47 Spring 2026 Introduction On December 1, 2025, the new German “Court of Arbitration for Nazi-Looted Art” began operating. Under this framework, Holocaust survivors and their heirs can submit, for the first time, proper legal and enforceable claims for the restitution of Nazi-looted art against public holders of artwork and cultural property in Germany. The claims can be brought unilaterally before the new Court. Previously, claimants were required to conclude mediation agreements with the current holders. The Court will decide the cases based on specially designed rules that seek to produce “just and fair solutions,” as suggested by Article 8 of the 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. The entire mechanism was negotiated with the Jewish Claims Conference and the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The following article presents the genesis of this major reform of the restitution process in Germany and explains the key features of the new Court. II. The 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art On December 3, 1998, 42 States adopted the “Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art” at the “Holocaust Era Assets Conference” in Washington,1 establishing a set of non-binding soft-law principles.2 According to Article 8 of the Washington Principles “steps should be taken expeditiously to achieve a just and fair solution, recognizing this may vary according to the facts and circumstances surrounding a specific case.” Hardly any further substantive standards were set.3 Article 11 “encourages” the signatory States to “develop national processes to implement these principles, particularly as they relate to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for resolving ownership issues.” Article 10 states that “commissions or other bodies established to identify art that was confiscated by the Nazis and to assist in addressing ownership issues should have a balanced membership.” Over the years, these few stipulations were supplemented and some points expanded upon at declarations in subsequent conferences.4 In 2024, the U.S. initiated, as a follow-up, the adoption of another set of non-binding soft laws, the “Best Practices for the Washington The New German “Court of Arbitration for Nazi-Looted Art” Matthias Weller 1. See James Bindenagel (ed.), Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, November 30 to December 3, 1998: PROCEEDINGS (1998). While it is often stated that The Washington Principles have 44 State signatories, the Conference Proceedings show that there were only 42, after the Vatican and the representatives of the Sinti and Roma (the latter obviously not being a State) pulled out and adopted instead the status of an observer and a non-State observer respectively. 2. Washington Principles on Nazi Confiscated Art, Preamble (1998). “In developing a consensus on non-binding principles to assist in resolving issues relating to Nazi-confiscated art, the Conference recognizes that among participating nations there are differing legal systems and that countries act within the context of their own laws.” 3. According to art. 4, a reduced standard of proof is to be applied to the question of whether the loss of the object is attributable to Nazi rule: “In establishing that a work of art had been confiscated by the Nazis and not subsequently restituted, consideration should be given to unavoidable gaps or ambiguities in the provenance in light of the passage of time and the circumstances of the Holocaust era.” A principle of proportionality for the configuration of the just and fair solution in relation to the established injustice of loss arises, albeit implicitly, from art. 8; on proportionality as a central requirement of justice, see Weller et al., Restatement of Restitution Rules for Nazi-Confiscated Art: EINE VERGLEICHENDE BESTANDSAUFNAHME [A Comparative Assessment], Berlin 2025, 1228, at art. 6 RRR, Commentary, ¶ 5 et seq. (This Restatement is currently being translated into English.) 4. See the Terezín Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues adopted in 2009. I.
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